aching legs while tapering Prednisolone

[Handloomweaver]

I have been successfully tapering my Prednisolone dose by 1mg a month since October last year. My CRP scores have not got beyond 2 for the past 8 months and I have no symptoms of GCA. Hurrah. But in the last 3-4 weeks I have suffered aches in both legs, front and back, day and night, and I get very tired at periods during the day, and am worn out by 9pm. I sleep well for 7-8 hours.

I asked my rheumatologist if I needed to see her, or my GP about this, and she said it was probably related to reducing my steroids, and to take paracetamol, which eases if for a while but it always comes back.

Has anyone else experienced this? Or does anyone know what causes it, if not tapering?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

What dose are you on now? Did the issues start after a reduction?

The tiredness could be related to adrenals stuttering depending what dose you are on.

Other issues could be a flare of your PMR -you are not relentlessly reducing to zero come what may - so you might need to slow down a bit.

But more information would help .. as for bloods they often lag behind symptoms, so don’t assume everything is fully under control.

The fact that paracetamol only helps marginally and for a short time suggests it is your PMR that’s the issue.